Potential tenants and others interested in the Reimagined Center can read about Springfield demographics, including Queen City median income and home values, and view conceptual images of restaurants with outdoor patios, a veterinary office, a park-like courtyard area, a large entrance for Walmart Pickup orders and what appears to be drive-through sushi service.

"We're thinking more innovatively about how customers experience Walmart," Delia Garcia, director of communications for Walmart, told the Des Moines Register. "We know that customers are wanting a more dynamic, engaging experience. They are less interested in just a transactional shopping experience."

When the plan was announced at an Oct. 23 retail conference in Atlanta, L.B Johnson, Walmart vice president of U.S. realty operations, said, "We want to provide community space, areas for the community to dwell — a farmers market, an Easter egg hunt, trick-or-treating."

Springfield has a number of existing mixed-use neighborhoods and developments, among them downtown, Commercial Street, Galloway, Cherry Street-Pickwick Avenue, Farmers Park and Chesterfield Village. The city would also like to redevelop the College Street and Kearney Street corridors in a similar way.

Rusty Worley, executive director of Downtown Springfield Association, said it seemed to him that Walmart is responding to established trends in society and the market.

"People are wanting to see more walkable, mixed-use situations," he told the News-Leader late Tuesday. "The difference, in our historic business districts, you have not only the walkability and different choices, but you have authenticity and the mix of the whole community coming together."

He compared Walmart Reimagined Centers to "lifestyle centers" like Branson Landing — "They serve a purpose" — and added, "I think the premise of having more activities within walking and biking distance is something we should all look at to promote wellness and just more vibrant communities."

But, he said, it's hard to duplicate the 24/7 "vibrancy" offered by historical neighborhoods where people both live and work, where small startup businesses can plant roots and where automobiles and parking play a different role than at a Walmart Supercenter.

"With this, I think vehicles will still dominate the development, where pedestrians are more the focus in historical business districts," Worley said.

City spokeswoman Cora Scott said Wednesday she learned of Walmart Reimagined Centers when the News-Leader contacted the city to ask about the plan.

Walmart has already begun a Reimagined Centers plan at a store in Loveland, Colorado, the Register reported. The company expects to break ground in 2019.